Yankees in trouble vs Blue Jays top prospect who owned them in ST

The New York Yankees have gotten their bearings lately, posting the best record in the AL since the middle of April — that counts as “getting your bearings,” right? Being the absolute best?

One could (correctly) argue, though, that they haven’t really even been firing on all cylinders yet.

The team’s rotation has stepped up, following the leader in Gerrit Cole with the type of sterling shutout numbers that beat even the rosiest projections. The bullpen has largely been nails — and when it hasn’t, the offense has usually picked them up with a sequence of singles or a walk-off walk.

In other words, the offense is hitting just enough to win 2/3 of the baseball games they participate in, but there’s still enough dead weight there that every game is a challenge. Enter someone from the Blue Jays who might just be able to take advantage of that. Great.

With a hole in their rotation, Toronto has engaged the power move of promoting top pitching prospect Alek Manoah for Wednesday night’s start.

You may remember him from burning a hole through the Yankees during this year’s spring training?

Blue Jays top prospect Alek Manoah could shut down the Yankees.

Is spring training a different animal from regular-season action, especially in the Bronx? Of course! A still-pretty-unfamiliar starting pitcher who’s breathing fire, though, could harm you in either season. In that instance, they’re different, but very similar animals. Like a lion and a tiger. Different? Sure. Could eat your face in the right circumstances? Yeah. Protect your face.

Rumor has it Manoah’s biggest weakness as a prospect at this point is his inability to harness his changeup, which means there’s a chance he ultimately ends up in the bullpen.

You could’ve fooled us based on his spring training exploits, though, when he was able to harness both stuff and length, and he’s parlayed that run into a red-hot start to the regular season at nomadic Triple-A Buffalo (er, playing in Trenton, which is a whole thing).

This spring, in two different outings against the Yankees, he combined to throw five shutout frames, allowing just one hit and striking out nine. In the March 14 start, he threw three scoreless with seven Ks, destroying Luke Voit, Kyle Higashioka, Clint Frazier and … Mike Tauchman and Jay Bruce (sad).

In three Triple-A starts following his temporary demotion, Manoah has buzz-sawed the competition, striking out 27 men in 18 innings while sporting an 0.50 ERA.

Clearly, the competition at that level was no match for him. Will the goons in the Bronx rise to the level of intimidating him?

Obviously, we don’t have much history against Manoah, which never seems to help the Yankees’ offense get on track.

Add in footage from March of him running circles around the lineup, which will only increase his confidence, and this seems like a well-timed promotion for the other guys.

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